86 
AFRICAN HUNTING. 
thought I would wait till she turned, and when 
she did so, I struck her too high, and I never 
came up with them again. I returned to the 
kraal, as the reader may imagine, not in the best of 
humours. 
th. — Oft again : a weary, long walk, through 
heavy sand. However, I got a good bath about 
half way, and lots of beer at the different kraals, and 
at sundown we arrived at the residence of the chief, 
Umpongal, a man of gigantic stature. He received 
me well, and gave me the best hut I have ever yet 
seen, all made of reeds, with the roof beautifully 
worked. I was honoured by drinking beer out of 
his private cup, which holds about a gallon, and by 
a present of a line fat fowl. 
On the 11th, I went to Mathlashlas, and the next 
day I crossed the Umsutie or Mapoota, a beautiful 
broad river, very deep, about ninety yards wide, 
and apparently navigable, emptying itself into 
Delagoa Bay—with magnificent trees upon its banks, 
abounding with sea-cows, and swarming with cro¬ 
codiles. I counted twenty-two at one time, on a 
small sand-bank in the middle of the river. The 
stream runs swiftly, and though I walked along its 
banks for two days, I saw no chance of crossing 
anywhere without a canoe. The Amatongas lost 
themselves in the bush, and it was four hours after 
sunset when we made some kraals, where we put up 
for the night, and fared rather badly, after a hard 
day’s work, on mealies and cold water. I had no 
